Blue Flowers: A Novel

When I read the description for this book I thought it was a really interesting premise. A newly divorced man named Marcos receives letters at his new apartment addressed to who must be the past tenant. These letters aren’t your average advertisement or credit card offer though. These are personal love letters written in poetic prose from a lady who signs the letters with a simple initial “A”. As the book progresses, the letters become more and more graphic; it sounds like the man beats the lady, giving her bruises and treating her meanly and roughly both in and out of the bedroom. It was a bit disturbing, and I was wondering if Marcos would eventually find either the man or the mysterious woman since there was no return address on the envelopes. Marcos himself is quite detached from the world, although he has a three-year-old daughter named Manuela with his ex-wife, and he has started seeing someone new. Nothing seems to interest Marcos like these letters do. He finds himself obsessed with them, and he wants to find the people in the letters. As I said, the storyline was very interesting, but the plot fell apart in the end. It was quite unsatisfying. I don’t know if it is because this was originally written in a foreign language and then translated, or if the ending really was this dry. In either case, this book offers a great storyline that led to nowhere.